Sunshine Coast Pelagic Trip March 2015

Streaked Shearwater

Streaked Shearwater, White-tailed Tropicbird, Long-tailed Jaeger and Red-footed Booby were the highlights of the pelagic trip of Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday March 7. Other good birds included Lesser Frigatebird, Tahiti Petrel, an unusually large number of Pomarine Jaegers, Sooty Tern, Black Noddy and Common Noddy.

Conditions were calm and fine as we departed the Mooloolaba Marina at 6.35am. A gentle S-SE breeze struggled to reach 5 knots for the rest of the day and we feared the lack of wind did not bode well. Those fears proved to be unfounded. As we headed out to sea we saw good numbers of Common Terns inshore, a dark phase Arctic Jaeger and a Hutton's Shearwater. Things were looking up.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Plenty of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were about as we made our way to the shelf, taking just 2 hours to reach its edge at 8.40am at 300m, 36 nautical miles offshore (26' 38' 950'S; 153' 42' 270'E). A swell of 0.5m barely changed during the day and the temperature under a sunny sky increased from 23 degrees in the early morning to 30 degrees by midday.

Flesh-footed Shearwater & Wedge-tailed Shearwater

When were arrived at the shelf we were greeted by an adult pale phase Red-footed Booby, which flew over the boat before flying away. A good sign indeed. Soon after, the first of 3 Lesser Frigatebirds (2 females and a male) appeared overhead as large numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and a smattering of Flesh-footed Shearwaters gathered around the shark liver berley trail we were laying.

Flesh-footed Shearwater

It was apparent that the birds were very hungry. Perhaps the unsettled weather off the Queensland coast in recent times, including Cyclone Marcia, had affected seabird feeding opportunities.

Pomarine Jaeger - immature

Pomarine Jaeger - dark phase

A couple of Pomarine Jaegers joined the fun and ever growing numbers of this species were to remain about the boat the whole time we were on the shelf. Most jaegers were juveniles or subadults and all but 2 were pale phase. The jaegers and frigatebirds joined the shearwaters in eagerly feeding on liver scraps. Late in the morning, a second-year Long-tailed Jaeger flew over the boat, giving us the jaeger trifecta.

Streaked Shearwater

Streaked Shearwater

We had been on the shelf about half an hour when the first of several Streaked Shearwaters arrived. Again, the species remained in the vicinity of the boat for as long as we were laying a berley trail.

Lesser Frigatebird - male

Lesser Frigatebird - female

As the morning progressed, a single immature White-tailed Tropicbird was seen somewhat distantly. Then a single Sooty Tern flew over, to be joined soon after by a second. A single Black Noddy made an appearance, as did a couple of Wilson's Storm-Petrels. Tahiti Petrel took a while to show but several settled in to join the feeding frenzy. Hutton's Shearwater made an occasional appearance.

Pomarine Jaeger & Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Tahiti Petrel

We had drifted 2.7 nautical miles in a northerly direction when we turned around at 1.10pm and headed home. Large numbers of actively feeding birds were with us continually for the 4.5 hours we were on the shelf. On the way back we encountered a large feeding flock of terns inshore, with good numbers of White-winged Terns among the more numerous Common Terns, a couple of Little Terns and a single juvenile Common Noddy. We arrived back at the marina at 3.15pm.

Common Terns & White-winged Terns

Species (Total Maximum at One Time)

Tahiti Petrel 8 (4)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 4 (2)
Streaked Shearwater 4 (4)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 300 (100)
Flesh-footed Shearwater 15 (5)
Hutton's Shearwater 4 (1)
White-tailed Tropicbird 1 (1)
Red-footed Booby 1 (1)
Lesser Frigatebird 3 (2)
Pomarine Jaeger 25 (15)
Long-tailed Jaeger 1 (1)
Arctic Jaeger 1 (1)
Silver Gull 2 (2)
Crested Tern 30 (4)
Common Tern 200 (100)
White-winged Tern 50 (30)
Little Tern 2 (2)
Sooty Tern 2 (2)
Common Noddy 1 (1)
Black Noddy 1 (1)
Pied Cormorant 2 (1)
Little Black Cormorant 2 (2)
Australian Pelican 3 (2)

Short-beaked Common Dolphin 2 (2)
Inshore Bottle-nose Dolphin 3 (2)
Oceanic Bottle-nose Dolphin 2 (2)

Participants

Lachlan Tuckwell (skipper), Greg Roberts (organiser),  Sarah Beavis, Robert Bell, Jo Cullinan, Linda Cross, Phil Cross, Hendrik Ferreira, Dawn Forrester, Nikolas Haass, Bob James, Paul Newman, Nerida Silke, Raja Stephenson, Russell Yong.

Light-manted Sooty Albatross: Pic Luke Bennett

In other Sunshine Coast seabirding news, Luke Bennett found a beach-washed Light-mantled Sooty Albatross of February 15 at Castaways Beach. This is a rare species in south-east Queensland at any time but this record is probably the first for the region in summer.

Feral Cat Kills Critically Endangered Night Parrot

Night Parrot

In an alarming development, an endangered Night Parrot in a small, recently discovered population of the endangered species in western Queensland has been killed by a feral cat.  The finding of the remains of a cat-killed night parrot in an area of arid spinifex country south-west of Winton raises fresh questions about whether sufficient management practices are in place in the remote region to protect the Night Parrots.

1850s specimen of Night Parrot

According to Queensland Government sources, professional shooters have been hired by a private conservation company to patrol the area at night with spotlights, shooting feral cats on sight. The program is funded by a donation from mining company Fortescue Metals; the involvement of the company relates to the reported discovery of Night Parrots in a mineral exploration area in Western Australia in 2005.

Spinifex habitat north-east of Night Parrot site in western Queensland

However, government agencies have been kept in the dark about the whereabouts of the Night Parrots in Queensland. The sites where the birds occur are on a privately leased grazing property. No moves have been made to offer the property for sale to governments, with private enterprise being the preferred management option for John Young, who discovered the birds there. The Queensland Government is of course the primary agency charged with safeguarding endangered wildlife in the state, and has legal responsibilities to do so.

John Young

The cat-killed parrot was found at a site close to where John Young photographed a Night Parrot for the first time in May 2013 in what has been hailed as the most significant natural history discovery of recent times, revealed by The Australian newspaper. Since then, John and scientist Stephen Murphy have continued research in the region, finding the parrot at several other localities in the region. John will give more details about the feral cat issue, including how the parrot evidently came to be killed, at a talk in Melbourne on March 1. John is understood to have found the carcass, which he believed to be a female bird.

John Young's Night Parrot

Feral cats are considered to be a key factor in the demise of this once widespread species, which has been recorded on just handful of occasions over the past century. In 1892, it was reported that "numerous" parrots had been killed by cats in the vicinity of the Old Telegraph Station near Alice Springs. Some observers have noted increases in feral cat populations following a succession of good seasons in parts of inland Australia. The region south-west of Winton where the parrots occur has been drought-afflicted for several years.

Feral Cat

Not only the Night Parrot but the Bilby and other endangered desert mammals have somehow survived predation from feral cats and foxes to date in parts of south-west Queensland. The reasons for this are uncertain. 

A Birder's Tribute to Trevor Quested

I was having a beer with Trevor Quested and friends at the Yandina Hotel, near our Sunshine Coast home, sometime in November 2011. Trevor mentioned that he had been feeling oddly unwell at times - as he had during an earlier visit - but that doctors did not seem to know what was wrong. I thought he was maybe being overly concerned, but just a month later came the cruel diagnosis - motor neuron disease.

In an email that Trevor and his wife Annie sent to friends at the time, he said he was "gobsmacked" by the news, and it appeared he was already going downhill fast: holding his binoculars steady and typing were becoming harder. His specialists did not expect him to be around a year later - he was told he would not see Christmas 2012. Trevor commented that he was fortunate to have such a loving and supporting wife in Annie.

Annie, Trevor & Glenn - May 2012.

Fortunately the specialists were wrong. Trevor battled on for three years and two months post-diagnosis before passing away peacefully at his Bundaberg home in the early evening of Wednesday February 11, 2015, aged 66. During a number of visits to the Questeds' home over that time, I never ceased to be impressed with the dignity and courage that Trevor and Annie demonstrated in dealing with this despicable affliction. Trevor was of course angry at first; he had ended his working life not that long before the diagnosis,and was looking forward to many years of birding, camping and other retirement indulgences.

Over time, however, he came to accept the inevitability of his lot and made the most of it in what were clearly very trying circumstances, for both him and Annie. Luckily the Questeds had their lovely shaded verandah and spacious gardens, with birds and kangaroos invariably in attendance. To the end, it was unfailingly a delight to Trevor to watch the goings-on in his special corner of the world.

I recall getting a phone call from Trevor last October, after Glenn and I had returned from a 4-month camping trip around Australia. His breathing was considerably laboured by then, but he had insisted on calling to thank me for posting a photo album from the trip on Facebook. Trevor had invited Eric Zillmann around to look at the photographs with him; he said it was like revisiting many of the places he had seen over his years of birding trips. That gesture, no small feat given his condition, was typical. During a visit a month or so later - and not so long ago now - Trevor was in surprisingly good spirits. He looked forward to visits from birding mates, especially if they brought new photographs to show him. We planned to visit again this week, as Trevor's final journey was not expected for a little while longer.

Trevor with Eric Zillmann - July 2011

Eric Zillmann is a Bundaberg birding legend and I knew him many years ago. I was delighted when Trevor reintroduced us during a visit to Bundaberg in July 2011. Eric is the only person alive to have seen the now-extinct Paradise Parrot in the wild. He captivated us with his vivid recollections of that historic time (see here for more on the parrot). Eric was one of many local birders who became close friends with Trevor. Trevor worked diligently to promote the local birding group and publish a newsletter that was as informative as it was professionally produced. That contribution was recognised by the construction in his honour of the Trevor Quested Bird Observation Platform in Bundaberg.

Commemoration of birding platform built in Trevor's honour - Pic by Chris Barnes

Trevor's enthusiasm for all things avian was infectious. I recall showing him his first Black-breasted Buttonquail at Yarraman, some time in the mid-1990s; he was so excited I thought he was going to hyperventilate. I first got to know him the early-1980s, when a few of us Brisbane birders would travel regularly from Brisbane to Sydney for monthly pelagic trips out of Rose Bay. I was struck by what an amiable companion he invariably was on those excursions, no matter how unpleasant the conditions.

In Akegara National Park, Rwanda - December 1989. Trevor is on the right, back. 

That companionship - and his boundless enthusiasm for not just birds but all wild creatures - was memorable during a 1989 trip I and other friends did with Trevor and his then wife Cilla to Rwanda, Kenya and what was then Zaire. Some of our shared experiences will not easily escape the memory: we were mock-charged by a gorilla; our boat was attacked by a hippopotamus; and our first Shoebill left us, as Trevor would say, comprehensively gobsmacked.

Even during illness, his enthusiasm did not wane. In October 2012, Trevor and Eric took us to see a Square-tailed Kite nest near Bundaberg. At the time, Trevor got about with the help of a wheelie walker. As soon as he was out of the car, he raced off through the bush with his walker, covering the distance of several hundred metres in a scarily short time. He was exhausted when he got there but keen as mustard to show me the nest.

At the Square-tailed Kite nest - October 2012

Trevor was renowned for his generosity of spirit and time. Apart from being an excellent birder, he was a gifted photographer, and technologically was way ahead of many of his peers, including this one. He positively relished sharing his knowledge and experience with friends. When I decided to take an interest in bird calls and playback, Trevor spent hours helping me to set up equipment; to become acquainted with i-tunes and much more; and to catalogue a large collection of bird songs. It was the kind of selfless thing that he just enjoyed doing.

I later helped him set up a blog (it is here) that was going to be his newest venture. Apart from an initial short post, however, he didn't get around to expand it before falling ill a few months later. Trevor continued to indulge his love of social media and technology during his illness, however. He mastered the use of an i-pad to reduce the effort of typing, and even when use of his fingers had been reduced to a reluctant single digit, he keenly recorded numerous Likes on Facebook posts.

With Trevor & Lucy - October 2014 

Trevor told friends shortly before his passing that he was ready to go. He was fortunate that he was able to avoid a prolonged stay in a nursing home, thanks to Annie's care. And however ill, he was always lucid, recalling in great and surprising detail his various and many birding exploits. For the birding community, his friends and family - and especially Annie, who was by his side at the end - the loss of Trevor Quested will be felt keenly for a very long time.

Hervey Bay: Wood Sandpiper, Shining Flycatcher, Brown Songlark & Bats Galore

Sooty Oystercatcher

Wood Sandpiper, Brown Songlark, Shining Flycatcher, Black Bittern and a huge colony of Little Red Flying-Foxws were the highlights of a 4-day campout at Hervey Bay. We camped at the nicely positioned Pialba Beachfront Tourist Park in windy but fine conditions.

Garnett's Lagoon and John Knight

I hooked up with John Knight to visit Garnett's Lagoon near River Head, just south of Hervey Bay. This wetland is on private property and access is available only through John, a mate of the property owner.

Wood Sandpiper

Garnett's has an impressive list of birds and I had long been keen to visit this spot. Among the 50 or so Sharp-tailed Sandpipers on the two lagoons was a single Wood Sandpiper.

Marsh Sandpiper

Several Marsh Sandpipers were also about.

Brown Songlark

On the paddocks nearby a sole male Brown Songlark was performing flight displays.

Shining Flycatcher

I was surprised to find a pair of Shining Flycatcher it what looked like suboptimal habitat - some scrappy-looking mangroves fringing a tidal rivulet that was a tributary of the nearby Susan River.

Black Flying-Fox

Near the camping ground at Pialba was a large colony of Black Flying-Foxes on the waterfront. The local council does a fine job of protecting this colony, in the midst of which I found a small knot of Little Red Flying-Foxes. The bats were not quite so endearing in the evenings as they fed on figs in trees overhanging our camper trailer.

Little Red Flying-Fox

Just a few kilometres away in the Hervey Bay Botanic Gardens, a massive colony of Little Red Flying-Foxes was in residence, with many tens of thousands of animals present. In both colonies I could spot a total of just a handful of Grey-headed Flying-Foxes.

Australasian Darter family

Dusky Moorhen family

Near the Botanic Gardens, on one of the Anembo Lakes, I flushed a Black Bittern along with a Nankeen Night-Heron and a Striated Heron. I found a family of Dusky Moorhens with tiny chicks in tow and a pair of boisterous young Australasian Darters were being fed by a parent. Other birds in the area included several Channel-billed Cuckoos.

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Krefft's River Turtle

Unusually tame Krefft's River Turtles were clearly used to being fed at the Botanic Gardens and Anembo Lakes.

Wonga Pigeon

I visited Mungomery's Vine Forest Reserve at Dundowran Beach but could find no sign of the Black-breasted Buttonquail reported from there, although Wonga Pigeon and Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove were common.

Nankeen Night-Heron

At the Arkarra Lagoons nearby I saw a Nankeen Night-Heron, Little Bronze Cuckoo and a pair of Magpie Geese on a nest.

Dundowran Beach

Osprey

A fine Osprey was standing sentry along Dundowran Beach.

Greater Sand-Plover

Along the coast around Pt Vernon and Gatakers Bay, a few waders were around including several Greater Sand-Plovers on the sandflats, and Sooty Oystercatchers on the rocky outcrops.

Caspian Tern

Little Tern

Birds along the waterfront at Urangan included many Little and Caspian Terns.

Black Bittern, Shoveler, White-winged Tern added to Yandina Creek Wetlands List

Australian Pelican

Black Bittern, Australasian Shoveler and White-winged Tern have been added to an increasingly impressive bird list for the Yandina Creek Wetlands on the Sunshine Coast.

Black-necked Stork

During a visit to the wetlands today with Chris Corben, one of the first birds we saw was an adult Black-necked Stork; later, a male Black-necked Stork was seen flying overhead. The site appears to have this species in residence. Australian Pelican and Royal Spoonbill were in particularly large numbers. An adult Black Bittern was seen at the confluence of Yandina Creek and one of the drainage channels. A flock of 20+ White-winged Terns were feeding over the wetland. A female Australasian Shoveler was seen among the Pacific Black Ducks. A single Lewin's Rail and several Spotless Crakes were heard.

Swamp Tiger

Butterflies were in good numbers, with thousands of Swamp Tigers about.

Map of Yandina Creek Wetlands

Meanwhile, the campaign to secure the protection of the Yandina Creek Wetlands continues. Unfortunately, the landowners of two of three properties covered by the acquisition proposal - see here for details - have refused permission for a comprehensive fauna and flora survey to proceed. Birders have been banned from entering the properties. While I continue to have limited access to the edge of the wetlands through neighbouring properties that I have permission to visit, birders are asked not to attempt to trespass on these properties as there is no public access. I am continuing negotiations with landholders in the hope of progressing the conservation case for protecting this area. Thanks to Wayne Roberts for preparing the above map of the wetlands proposal, which is coloured yellow.

In a positive development, the Sunshine Coast Council has indicated that proposals to redevelop the wetlands for cattle pasture must meet council planning regulations that protect designated wetlands and native vegetation on the properties concerned. More importantly, the office of federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has informed the landholders of their obligations to ensure that any development does not put at risk the endangered species and migratory shorebirds that occur in the wetlands (see the above-mentioned link for details).

Marbled Frogmouth

Other good birds at the wetlands during another visit recently included an Eastern Grass Owl flying overhead at dusk. Later that same evening, this male Marbled Frogmouth was spotted in the Mapleton National Park in the nearby Blackall Range.

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Elsewhere, this Channel-billed Cuckoo was seen at Little Yabba Creek.

Forest Kingfisher juvenile

On the home front, a pair of Forest Kingfishers has successfully raised two youngsters in our garden at Ninderry, while a pair of Pale-headed Rosellas have become frequent visitors to the feeders.

Pale-headed Rosella